U.S. says troops can stay in Syria
The Trump WASHINGTON — administration has decided that it needs no new legal authority from Congress to indefinitely keep U.S. military forces deployed in Syria and Iraq, even in territory that has been cleared of Islamic State fighters, according to Pentagon and State Department officials.
In a pair of letters, the officials illuminated the Trump administration’s planning for an open-ended mission of forces in Syria beyond the Islamic State fight. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson foreshadowed the plan in a speech last month, saying that troops will stay in Syria to curb Iran and prevent the Syrian government from reconquering rebel-held areas.
Though Tillerson also cited a need to mop up the remnants of the Islamic State group and keep from leaving a vacuum in which the group could regenerate, other administration officials put far greater emphasis on the extremists. In the letters, they said that the continued potential threat from the Islamic State provided a legal rationale for the Trump administration to keep U.S. troops deployed there indefinitely.
“Just as when we previously removed U.S. forces prematurely, the group will look to exploit any abatement in pressure to regenerate capabilities and reestablish local control of territory,” wrote David Trachtenberg, the deputy undersecretary of defense for policy.
About 2,000 U.S. troops are in Syria, where nearly all the territory once held by the Islamic State has now been liberated.
Trachtenberg wrote the letter to Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who had asked the Trump administration to explain its understanding of its authority to stay on in Syria. The State Department sent him a similar letter, which also argued that international law provided a basis for U.S. forces to remain in Syria — despite the lack of consent from the Syrian government — to protect Iraq and the U.S. from terrorists.
Both letters said U.S. troops may strike at Syrian government or Iranian forces deemed to threaten Americans or Syrian rebel groups that are assisting the United States in fighting the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.
“The United States does not seek to fight the government of Syria or Iran or Iranian-supported groups in Iraq or Syria,” wrote Mary K. Waters, the assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs. “However, the United States will not hesitate to use necessary and proportionate force to defend U.S., coalition or partner forces engaged in operations to defeat ISIS and degrade al-Qaida.”